HISTORIC Oxford bookseller Blackwell is to close its head office, Beaver House, and hand over ownership of the business to the bookshop staff.

The office in Hythe Bridge Street will close by Christmas, with the loss of 25 jobs.

The remaining staff will move either to a 'skeleton' head office at Blackwell's historic Broad Street shop, or to one of its 77 shops spread throughout the UK.

Toby Blackwell, 81, the last family member involved in the business, said it was likely to return to profitability in the financial year 2011-12, and he wanted its 949 staff to share in the success of the turnaround.

“I have therefore decided to emulate the highly successful John Lewis (& Waitrose) share partnership structure for Blackwell’s," he said.

Mr Blackwell added: “I have always had a determination that Blackwell’s will be, and remain for posterity as, an independent private company.

"Secondly, I believe that every single one of our people is important; and can, if respected and encouraged, contribute ideas to make Blackwell’s more efficient and innovative.

"The ethos of people not being told to win, but wanting to win is difficult to achieve, nevertheless hugely powerful and rewarding for everyone when we do.”

The move to hand over control should be completed by December, and Mr Blackwell said he had already started drawing up a partnership agreement, based on the John Lewis model.

The cost-cutting measures come after several years of losses for the bookseller.

Spokesman Katie Perrior said: “When we look at the branches, they are profitable. The head office tips the company into making a loss, and we want to make it profitable.

“In a way, we are going back to where Blackwell's started.”

She said the future of human resources director Liz Jones was not yet clear, because it had not yet been decided how to devolve HR. Some 25 jobs are at risk of redundancy in a consultation process that started this week.

Andrew Hutchings will continue as chief executive, masterminding the restructuring from an office in Broad Street.

He said: “These changes will make Blackwell’s stronger for the future – taking the company back to profitability and ensuring we retain a strong bookselling presence in universities and university towns across the country.”

Blackwell's first shop opened in Broad Street in 1879.